The Makings of a Rival
by Lisa Telramor
Summary: Kaiba Seto did not appreciate Mutou's wallowing. If he wasn't going to face Duel Monsters after the Pharaoh, Seto is going to pull him back bit by bit, because Mutou is the King of Games no matter what his current state of mind might be. Takes place after Placing the Stone to Move Forward, and before/during/after Go Stones and Duel Monsters


_AN:I got blindsided by the desire to write something involving Seto Kaiba. He's a very biased character. And he is not good at being 'normal' by any stretch of the word. I started writing this with Lisztomania playing. I think that might have affected it some._

* * *

Kaiba Seto was not a patient person. He was more than capable of playing the long game, but what was the point of the power and prestige he had worked for if he had to wait to get what he wanted? And what he wanted—not that he would ever admit it—was his rival back. Objectively, this wasn't possible as Mutou Yuugi had not been his actual rival. Yes, he could admit that there was a second person in Mutou's body. Even his stubborn realism had its limits, and after spending months in a coma picking up pieces of his soul, attempting to save Mokuba from a fate as a card only to end up one himself, Egyptian gods manifesting as a result of his Duel technology, and the ghostly presence of his Blue Eyes, Seto couldn't look the other way even for sanity's sake. It was better to accept it, learn as much as he needed to keep it from interfering in his day to day life, and move on.

Seto was rapidly losing his patience with Mutou Yuugi. Actually he was losing his patience with Mutou and his ragtag group of friends. Mutou was the king of Duelists. As much as Seto would love to claim that title, he'd never get the chance if Mutou kept hiding away in his game shop avoiding everything Duel Monsters related.

He was grieving. Seto understood that. He had grieved for his parents a lifetime ago and though he couldn't wholly remember the person he was then to have felt those emotions so strongly, he knew that there was grief and there was stagnation, and Mutou was falling into the latter category. It pissed him off. His rival wasn't a coward. Mutou wasn't the Pharaoh, but he was still part of what made up his rival. Even a part of Mutou hiding away instead of facing his grief head on was infuriating. His stupid friends insisted Mutou would move on when he was ready, but they were being blinded, maybe by Mutou or maybe by their own grief. Mutou hadn't been to _any_ Duel Monster related anything in months. He hadn't been involved in any other games either, and Seto knew gamers, and even he could tell that Mutou wasn't going to let go on his own. Mutou's tag alongs were leaving to find themselves, and Mutou was making a tomb for his skills in that dingy game shop and it was unacceptable.

There were plans on Seto's desk, progress reports for his Duel Academy. He had plans and goals to expand Duel Monsters, but it was going to need Mutou eventually. His face would be enough to draw in crowds. He was becoming something of a Dueling legend, an unattainable goal for the public, and if Seto had anything to say, Mutou would stay there—excepting if Seto beat him.

This required Mutou to Duel again.

Mutou wasn't Dueling.

Seto would have to ease him into it again. Have Mutou beta test something unrelated, some minor game in the company, then start having him help with bigger things. Mutou wouldn't refuse if Seto phrased it as a favor (he would hate phrasing it as a favor, but if it worked, he'd do it). Mutou was too _nice_ to turn down doing a favor for someone he considered a friend.

Seto snorted. Sentimentality.

He flicked open his phone and typed in Mutou's number from memory.

o0O0o

Mutou looked resigned when he saw the helicopter. "When you wanted a beta tester, I thought you meant one of the VR systems like last time," he said.

"If I gave you all the details, you would never have agreed to come." Seto didn't look at him as he opened the helicopter door.

He could feel Mutou staring at his back though. "This is something Duel Monsters related isn't it?"

"I have something to show you," Seto said, "and if you mention it to anyone before PR gets a statement out, I'll know where the leak came from."

"I'm not going to sell your corporate secrets, Kaiba-kun." Mutou sighed. "So what is this super-secret thing that you wanted to show me?"

Seto smirked. He strapped himself into the pilot's chair as Mutou belted himself in the back. A click of a button and the helicopter door slid shut. "A few years ago, I purchased an island."

"…Okay."

He glanced at the mirror to see Mutou's expression. Not as much curiosity as he had hoped.

"This island isn't like the one Pegasus had his tournament on is it?" Mutou asked when Seto didn't continue.

Seto snorted. "As if. I have something bigger planned than some tournament. If all goes to plan, in a few years Dueling will be a career choice and there will be places for gifted Duelists to dedicate themselves to the game."

"…So you're building a school?" There was the curiosity that Seto had been waiting for. Mutou was still interested in Duel Monsters and Seto would make him remember that even if he had to shove Mutou bodily onto one of the new Duel platforms he was building.

"I'm building a school," Seto said.

"How did you pitch this to your board of directors?" Mutou asked.

"It's ensuring a generation will be dependent on Kaiba Corp technology and Duel Monsters," Seto said as he flicked the startup switches and checked gauges. "Looking at it that way, they sided with me almost immediately."

Mutou laughed. It was still annoying, but it was better than resignation. He'd take it as a win and see how much convincing it would take to get Mutou to Duel one of the computers when they reached the island.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to build a school next to an active volcano?" Mutou asked as soon as the helicopter had landed and they could talk again without headsets.

o0O0o

"Geothermal energy, Mutou." Seto waved a hand at the volcano. "It will power the whole island and heat the buildings and baths. This island will be almost entirely self-sufficient when I'm done with it. Except for the technology and transportation." He smirked. "They'll have to go through Kaiba Corp to get anything that the island can't produce, and any Dueling related items."

"You really think people will go here?" Mutou trailed a hand over a stone wall. The main building was only half built so far, and none of the dorms were finished. Still, Seto was proud of how it was going. Alongside the Kaibaland theme parks, it was one of his greater projects that would leave a lasting impact, he was sure. Good for business with the added benefit of catering for the serious Duelist while the theme parks catered to the casual Duelist.

"So long as tournaments exist to make money off of as a professional Duelist? So long as people love the game?" Seto crossed his arms. "People will come."

"It'd be a pretty big expense if they didn't." Mutou looked up at the high walls. The main building was up, but the insides were far from polished. The only room Seto had been focusing his attention on was the Duel arenas. Optimally there would be hologram technology scattered through the entire island, and students would have improved Duel Discs to Duel wherever they could think to Duel, but this was a school. There had to be a central place to hold educational Duels and tournaments, and it was going to have the best hologram technology Seto could put together. It had reached the testing stage, and that was what he had Mutou here for.

"If it does well, I have plans for a few other campuses."

"You sure plan big, Kaiba-kun."

"Is there any other kind of plan worth doing?"

Mutou smiled, running ahead a bit to better check out the building. He almost looked like the old him from high school, head in the clouds and full of interest.

Once the holograms were complete, Seto would be letting someone else take over the bulk of the work for the island. There was only so much that needed direct supervision after all. He would, of course, be the one to do final testing on all the systems, but depending on how this trip went with Mutou, maybe he would invite him back to do that final testing.

Maybe Seto would be able to Duel him, and maybe Seto could regain a rival.

Hell, maybe he would invite the whole stupid group of Mutou's friends. They could all Duel to some extent. Having Jonouchi Duel would probably help idiot proof the system.

"Where were we heading to, Kaiba-kun?" Mutou called from ahead. Seto shook off his thoughts and plans and returned to the present goals: get Mutou to Duel something.

o0O0o

When Mutou stood against the AI system Seto had created, Seto knew that the Duel against Mutou's other half hadn't been a fluke. The Pharaoh might have played most of Mutou's Duels, but Mutou Yuugi was equally deserving of the King title.

It made him that much more determined to drag him back into the Dueling world. Mutou belonged there. And Seto wanted to try his own Dueling skill against Mutou.

Not yet though. Mutou was good, but he was still out of practice and reluctant to put his whole self into a Duel. And Seto wouldn't take any less than his best.

o0O0o

"I think it will be popular," Mutou said much later, after the Dueling and after a lunch break.

"Of course it will be popular. I came up with it, and if it isn't popular by association, my marketing department will sell it so well it will have potential students fighting to get in its doors."

Mutou smiled, eyes looking into the distance like he was imagining a bunch of kids trying to Duel their way onto the island. "Thanks for this," Mutou said.

"For building a school?" Seto frowned. "It's a marketing strategy not—"

"I was missing Dueling, but I didn't want to use my deck," Mutou said, cutting Seto off. "Thank you for getting me to Duel again."

Seto scowled. "I asked you to Duel as a beta tester, Mutou."

"You could have tested the system yourself." Mutou said. "You could have had anyone test it."

"I asked you because it furthers my goals, Mutou. Don't mistake it for some foolish act of friendship." Seto crossed his arms, looking down his nose at Mutou. "You're one of the faces of Duel Monsters. I can use that for my marketing."

"Sure, Kaiba-kun." Mutou smiled. "You're a good friend."

"We're not friends, we're rivals," Seto scoffed.

Mutou blinked at him and Seto realized he probably shouldn't have vocalized that he considered Mutou a rival just as much as he had considered the Pharaoh a rival. Mutou would probably add all sort of sentimental bull crap to that statement and have it come out meaning something other than the cut and dry statement of fact that it was. Rivals needed their rival in their best shape to fight against. Friends were the idiots who coddled Mutou instead of forcing him to stop wallowing in his own misery. There was no one else who could challenge him, no one else who would think as sideways as Mutou with their strategies, no one else who had absolute faith in their deck to the point where probability itself seemed on Mutou's side. There was no one else who could be a decent rival, so like hell was he letting Mutou slip away from him.

"I'm not him," Mutou murmured.

"No. You're Mutou Yuugi and you just Dueled my AI and won on one of its highest settings." Seto scoffed. "I think I can tell a worthy opponent from an unworthy one."

"I wonder about that…"

Mutou was silent the whole walk back to the helicopter.

Seto still felt like he had made a breakthrough.

o0O0o

Seto tapped his desk irritably. Mutou hadn't answered his phone. He also hadn't answered the email Seto sent two days ago. Sure, Seto didn't send messages regularly—every few weeks was more than enough. Roping Mutou into beta testing—and hopefully more and more Duel Monsters related testing—was the only reason he sent messages, and Mutou had never taken this long to respond before. Had Seto made a mistake with the trip to the island? He'd thought it went well. It had had Mutou thinking and admitting he missed Dueling.

He tapped the desk a moment longer. If Mutou wasn't answering, one of his friends surely knew what was going on with him. Jonouchi was the most likely of the bunch. Seto didn't want to call him. He could go to the Kame game shop and question Mutou's grandfather. Mutou Sugoroku had a strong dislike of Seto that Seto couldn't blame him for—he had put him in the hospital and destroyed his rare card—but Seto couldn't say he cared for the old man either. Call the idiot or deal with the old man?

The decision was taken out of his hands when the phone rang with the idiot's number listed as the caller.

"What?" Seto snapped as he picked up the phone.

"K-Kaiba…" Jonouchi sounded startled. Typical. He was the one calling, he shouldn't be the one caught off guard.

"How the hell did you get this number?"

"I asked Mokuba for it, asshole," Jonouchi growled, pulling himself together. Seto was going to have a talk about handing out his phone number with Mokuba. A long talk. "Listen Kaiba, quit bothering Yuugi."

Ah, so Mutou had talked to someone about something. Not about specifics hopefully or he was serious about threats about tech and PR leaks. Seto rolled his eyes and leaned back in his desk chair. "I'm not bothering Mutou. I'm offering him jobs. Mutou's the one who keeps accepting them."

"He doesn't want to Duel you Kaiba."

"I haven't asked him to Duel me," Seto said truthfully. He'd thought that would probably scare Mutou off. "Although that's up to Mutou, not you to decide who he does and doesn't want to Duel."

"Yeah, so you keep bringing up Duel Monsters. Great idea," Jonouchi said sarcastically.

Seto pinched the bridge of his nose, something he wouldn't have allowed himself if they were face to face, but since he was alone, he'd indulge. "Jonouchi. In the past three months, Mutou has left his shop more times to help test things for me than he had in all the months previous to spend time with you idiots since the trip to Egypt. I know—because Mutou natters on about his precious friends—that he's been more social with you as well. Recently he used his deck for the first time in almost a year. How is any of this bothering Mutou?"

"He used his Deck? No wonder he was so upset."

Frustration bubbled through him, coming out in a growl. "Do any of you know the first thing about psychology?" Seto snapped before clamping down on his emotions. Jonouchi was too far beneath him to get annoyed at. It was like getting annoyed at a fly or some stray dog nipping at your heels. Irritating, but unimportant.

"Well it must have been something you did or said because Yuugi called yesterday and said he wasn't going to be around for a while, and you were the last one he talked to!"

Seto froze. Mutou ran off? Mutou ran off, and he hadn't replied to Seto's messages.

Jonouchi was still building up a tirade on the other end of the line, saying something about Mutou refusing to give an explanation or say where he was going, and if Seto hadn't pushed too far, what else would get Yuugi like this?

Seto disconnected the phone. He speed dialed his driver. "Pick me up out front in ten minutes." Disconnecting that, he speed dialed Mokuba. "Tonight we need to talk." On the other end, Mokuba swallowed audibly. He'd better not hand out Seto's number again.

If the idiot didn't know where Mutou went, then there was only one person who would know. Seto grabbed his briefcase and swept out his office door.

o0O0o

"Where the hell is Mutou?" Seto asked as he stalked into the Kame game shop. Two patrons scurried out of his way, scattering packets of cards in their wake. He ignored them. Mutou the elder was at the cash register ringing up a young woman's purchases. She stared with mounting fear in Seto's direction. Mutou Sugoroku looked unimpressed.

"Yuugi is visiting a friend, Kaiba-san." Mutou said, scanning another video game—not one of Kaiba Corp's products; Seto would have to talk with marketing about advertising toward female gamers. "He'll be back when he's ready."

"When he's ready?" Seto asked. What the hell was that supposed to mean?

"Yuugi is reconciling himself with the fact that Atem is never coming back." Mutou said. He passed the woman her games, and change. She grabbed them and made a bid for the door. The other customers had already inched out, excepting one young man who was eavesdropping shamelessly. Probably a Duelist. He would want to know where the King of Games was and what Kaiba Seto was doing in a tiny family owned game store if he was in the same position.

"I think he reconciled that a long time ago," Seto muttered.

Mutou shrugged, shutting his cash register. "Knowing and acceptance aren't the same thing." He pinned Seto with a stare that would have been intimidating if Seto was anyone else. "Considering that you've been pushing him toward the latter, I can't say I know why you're so surprised about any of this."

"When will he be back?" Seto asked, ignoring the layers of insinuation in Sugoroku's stare.

"He didn't say." Mutou shrugged again. "Don't worry about your tests. He'll be back eventually."

"You're okay with him leaving with no concept of when he'll be back?" If Mokuba did something like that Seto would throw a fit. And hire people to shadow him because he had been kidnapped one too many times for comfort, if not drag him back where Seto could watch him entirely.

Mutou laughed. "In my day, I'd already traveled half the world by his age and gotten into a lot more trouble voluntarily than he has. Yuugi is a whole lot better at picking and choosing what he gets caught up in." He leaned on the counter, giving Seto a challenging grin. "As for running off… Sometimes only way to face a problem is to get distance from it. I trust Yuugi to know when he's ready to face his life here again and so should you. You trust him enough to let him touch company prototypes, trust him to know himself." Mutou thought he knew Seto, Seto realized. He thought he understood and it was just as irritating as all the other people that thought they could figure him out. The older Mutou still disliked him, but he was trusting Yuugi's judgement on Seto's character, and it was weird to think that Mutou talked about Seto to his grandfather often enough for Mutou Sugoroku to feel familiar with Seto.

Seto shook his head. He had an answer though. Mutou was visiting a friend for an indefinite time to figure out where his head was at. Fine. Seto could accept that. It as irritating and not as direct as he would have liked, but Mutou wasn't like Seto in always confronting problems head on. He could accept it but it didn't mean he had to like it.

"If you're done asking questions," Mutou said, "You're scaring away potential customers."

"Where does this friend live?" Seto asked, one last question that was irritating him.

"Tokyo," Mutou said. "Now get out, since you're clearly not buying anything."

As if he'd buy cards from a shop. He had dealers to do that for him.

"You're welcome!" Mutou called after him as he left as abruptly as he'd entered. Seto waved a dismissive hand behind him.

Mutou Yuugi was in Tokyo. Tokyo was a big city, but he could probably pinpoint him if Mutou took too long returning. He wasn't someone who blended into a crowd.

o0O0o

Seto didn't think about Mutou at all for a week. A week was plenty of time for Mutou to think on his issues. When that week passed and Seto still didn't have a reply to any of his previous messages, he felt a bit annoyed. But it was only a week. Two weeks? Sure, that was still within an acceptable timeframe. Three? That was pushing it.

He typed in Mutou's phone number and listened to it ring on the other end. Two rings, three, at least he knew that Mutou had his phone on. He could be actively ignoring it. Seto tapped his fingers on his desk as it rolled into the fourth ring. After the fifth, it switched to the voice messaging system. He debated a moment and decided yes, he would leave a message.

"Mutou. Your vacation couldn't come at a worse time. The glitches in the system you tested have been fixed. I need you to test them again for consistent data. Finish up whatever the hell you're doing. This project can't wait forever."

Seto paused, considering adding something a bit less blunt and antagonistic, but nothing came to mind. He disconnected the call.

Mutou had better answer that message.

o0O0o

A week and a half later, Seto left another message, a much more impatient and longer one. Three days later, Mutou finally answered, a short text saying _Will be back tomorrow. Can help in a few days_.

Seto scowled at the phone a whole minute and a half, annoyed at the brevity of the reply for reasons he decided were better not examining.

He typed back _Good_ and threw the phone aside.

o0O0o

Seto made Mutou come to him. He had done enough chasing after Mutou for one month, and after the brush off he was given, he damn well wasn't going to fall over himself greeting Mutou when he returned home like Mutou's friends undoubtedly had. So Seto sat in his office with his desk between him and Mutou and the most uncomfortable chair in the office set across from him if Mutou dared to sit down.

Mutou looked more intimidated by Seto's secretary than he did of Seto behind his desk. He'd indulge in irritation over that later.

"Kaiba-kun," Mutou said with a jerky wave and a backward glance at the secretary shutting the door behind him. "You mentioned the beta testing that—"

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Seto cut in. He enjoyed the way Mutou blinked and stuttered at being derailed.

"I…yes?" His hand dipped down toward his belt to touch his deck

"Next time you run off, you might want to give a bit more explanation. I don't enjoy receiving calls from idiots accusing me of driving you to irrational act." Seto laced his fingers together, elbows on his desk. Muto shifted from foot to foot.

"It…wasn't planned?" Mutou sat in the chair. He made a face as his feet dangled half a foot above the carpet. He made another face when he tried to get comfortable and found all the lumps and springs. "I needed to get away from the memories for a bit."

"So you stayed with a friend."

"He's not involved with Duel Monsters," Mutou said. He tilted his head. "He wasn't involved in Duel Monsters. He might become a hobbyist if he builds a proper deck. And I stayed in a hotel. I wasn't going to impose on a friend for who knew how long."

Seto frowned. Everyone Mutou knew was involved in Duel Monsters or from Domino High. When the hell had he made a friend that wasn't a Duelist? He narrowed his eyes. "Your deck…"

Mutou touched it again. For a blink of an eye he looked nostalgic and sad, but there was peace in his expression too. Maybe he really had found some sort of solace in that trip. "It's my deck now," Mutou said. "Not Atem's. It has pieces of him, and pieces from the deck that I used against him, but this deck is for the person I am now."

Seto changed his deck to be more effective and to strike hardest against each opponent. He couldn't say he allowed himself much sentimentality in how he approached it other than keeping his Blue Eyes in his core strategy. Still, he couldn't disagree that decks were very personal things that reflected the Duelist. Mutou wasn't the person he used to be, so it made sense that his deck wouldn't remain the same. "You're going to return to the Dueling scene," Seto said on the edge of demanding.

"I think I'd like to," Mutou said. "It can be a way to remember Atem and build off the legacy he created for me."

Seto scoffed. "You had a part in a good number of those Duels, Mutou. Start claiming them." He straightened, dropping the intimidating stance. It hadn't been working anyway. "You owe me a Duel in the near future."

"I owe you a Duel?" Mutou said. A smile spread along his lips. "I thought I was doing you favors already with this beta testing."

"I could be paying you to beta test if you'd prefer to be my employee," Seto said. It would be another way to tie Mutou to the Kaiba Corp brand, but Mutou laughed.

"No thanks. I like being able to say no if I'm not feeling up to something."

Pity. "You owe me a Duel because you set back my testing and didn't even give me the courtesy of an explanation," Seto said.

Mutou was still smiling. "Fine, Kaiba-kun. I'll Duel you sometime soon."

"Good." Seto nodded, all business. "Now, that beta testing—my secretary can escort you to the test site. It's too late to head to the island today for those tests; we can do that later this week."

"Of course Kaiba-kun."

Seto waved his hand to shoo Mutou out of his office and Mutou got off the chair with audible relief. He was almost to the door when Seto asked after him, "And Mutou? Who was that friend you were staying with?"

"Shindou Hikaru," Mutou said with a glance back in Seto's direction. "He's a professional Go player."

"Hmm." Go? Seto knew there were Go professionals, but in this day and age, it felt odd to think of Go professionals. Seto was a chess prodigy and he had never even entertained the thought of becoming a professional in it even before the orphanage.

"…Don't do anything drastic," Mutou said. He must have seen plans turning over in Seto's head now that he had a name. "He's a good person."

Seto snorted. "Please, Mutou, as if I would harm your new friend."

Mutou looked like he regretted giving a name now. Too late; Seto had it memorized and was already planning who to contact for a background check. "I don't think you'd harm him…"

Seto waved him off. "Go test my games. I have other people waiting for meetings."

Mutou hesitated a long moment, but he must have decided to trust Seto's judgment because he left without extracting any promises. He was too trusting like that.

o0O0o

"You know," Mokuba said as they headed toward a Go salon that Shindou Hikaru was said to frequent on Wednesday evenings, "I don't think Yuugi-kun is going to be very happy with you."

"Mutou couldn't have expected me not to look the man up after he gave me a name," Seto reasoned.

"There's looking someone up and there's finding out where they live and work," Mokuba muttered.

Seto let that point go to Mokuba for once. They opened the door to the salon and were greeted by a woman at the desk explaining the fees. Seto tuned her out and let Mokuba pay for them both. He scanned the room. It was full of old men. Old men smokers which Seto had enough of in his life during board meetings and fundraiser events. Urgh. In the back corner was an incongruous flash of color—a bright yellow shirt belonging to a man with bleached bangs. Both he and his opponent were younger than the next youngest player in there by at least two decades. Shindou Hikaru matched the photos Seto had seen of him. Seto wondered how on earth he had ended up a professional Go player. He had to stick out like a sore thumb amongst all the traditionalists.

"Nii-sama, what rank should I write down?"

Seto glanced at the guest book Mokuba was writing their names in. "We're both amateurs."

"Beginner then?" the woman at the desk asked.

"We've never played," Mokuba said helpfully.

"30 _kyu_ is the lowest," the woman said.

Seto tuned them out again, staring down Mutou's friend. The second he was sure that Mokuba had finished paying, he walked to watch the game build its shape across the board. Seto was only mildly familiar with the rules of Go; he'd put other games before it, had played it a few times as a small child and learned the basics quickly enough, but chess had held his passion back then. Even with the lack of experience he could see that the game was fairly evenly matched, the young man facing Shindou slightly ahead if Seto remembered how counting territory worked correctly. It looked to be nearing the end of the game, the board covered with a sprawling pattern of black and white stones.

Shindou studied the board and leaned back. "I resign," he sighed. "That move in the upper right corner would have worked a lot better if you placed your stone one down."

"Which is exactly why I didn't," Shindou's opponent said. "What were you thinking here?" He jabbed a finger at a cluster of stones.

Seto started tapping one finger on his crossed arms.

"I was thinking that—" Shindou cut off, finally noticing Seto looming over him. "Uh. Hi. You're not one of the regulars."

"No, we're not." Seto stared him down, waiting to see if he'd break.

Shindou blinked at him, and glanced at Mokuba and his Go opponent who looked just as uncertain as Shindou did.

At Seto's side, Mokuba sighed and gave a tiny wave. "Hi. So you're Yuugi's friend, right?"

Shindou blinked once more before realization flickered across his face. "You're that guy he kept mentioning, that Kaiba guy!" He pointed rudely. Seto narrowed his eyes. He was the same type of person as Jonouchi wasn't he? Lovely. "You sounded like a jerk. Wow, didn't realize you were a stalker too."

…What had Mutou said about him? No matter. "Mutou has the irritating ability to gain friends in the strangest situations, but he never mentioned you."

Shindou frowned. Seto took that as a point to him. …Not that Mutou was in the habit of talking in length about friends with Seto except to give unwanted updates on how Jonouchi and the others that Seto knew were doing. Mokuba had a similar habit. It was probably meant to be a reminder that he should be socializing and learning these things firsthand when it came from Mokuba, but with Mutou it was just another aspect of conversation.

"Nii-sama is still figuring out the whole friend thing," Mokuba said.

Seto scoffed. "For the last time, we're not friends, Mokuba, we're rivals."

Shindou had both eyebrows raised until they were disappearing into his tacky bleach-blond bangs. "Right. Rivals." He glanced at his Go opponent. "I get that."

The man seemed content not to enter the conversation and simply observe. Good. One less person to deal with. Though Seto was starting to wonder if he should have brought Mokuba on this trip if he was going to cut in like this.

"So." Shindou sprawled back in his chair so he could better see Seto's face. "What're you doing here looking into your rival's personal business?"

"Call it curiosity." Seto smirked.

"Oh?" There was something steely under Shindou's initial appearance. He wasn't just some random, average person who happened to be just as invested in a game as Seto was with Duel Monsters. He was smiling and relaxed despite the fact that Seto had done plenty to try and push him on the defensive. Interesting. Friends were something he would stand his ground about. Seto wondered if that sword-sharp presence lurking under the casual posture was what opponents saw across the board. He could respect that sort of mind, if Shindou truly wasn't as ridiculous as he looked.

"Mutou agreed to Duel me a few days ago." Shindou didn't look surprised or confused. He appeared to at least know what Dueling was. "It took months to get him to agree to touch Duel Monsters at all, and a month in Tokyo visiting you and he is comfortable enough to not only Duel another person face to face, but to use a new deck to do it." Seto leaned forward. "How?"

"Sometimes stepping away from something helps," Shindou said.

"Bullshit. He pulled avoidance for so long he was making things worse."

"Look, there's a difference between stepping away from everyone that knows the issue to think about it compared to avoiding the issue itself," Shindou muttered, looking a little annoyed for the first time.

"What did you do?" Seto repeated. It was irritating. Every last one of Mutou's friends had tried to get him in better spirits for ages. Seto had tried his own brand of it and it had only had minimal success until Mutou's trip to Tokyo. He wanted to know.

"We played Go," Shindou said, throwing one hand at the Go board with its configurations of stones. "And he helped me work on a Duel Monsters deck." Shindou added under his breath, "And kicked my ass in card games."

"Go."

"Yeah, Go," Shindou snapped. "I met him a while back when I was visiting Domino. Couldn't find a Go salon anywhere, but someone told me to try this game shop, and Yuugi ended up playing a game with me. We hit it off. Making a new friend isn't something miraculous or anything."

"He's a good Go player," the man watching from the sidelines added suddenly. He pushed long black hair behind an ear. "He could have become a professional if he wanted, but it was…more fun than usual to play against him."

"Of course he's good. He's the King of Games." Probability itself bent to Mutou's faith in a way that would have been irritating if Seto hadn't also had similar moments in his Dueling career. "Mutou has won almost every game he has set his hands on—regardless of the type or rules."

"That's…" Shindou frowned. "Okay, that would make a lot of sense and explain a few things he's mentioned. He's still a ways off from beating either of us though."

"Touya Akira," the other Go professional said, bowing in his seat politely.

Seto gave him a nod. Touya wasn't his object of focus. "I could beat Mutou at chess, but it would be pointless to beat him at something that I've been a master of since I was ten." He leaned forward. "So you and Mutou played Go."

"And Duel Monsters. I think he just wanted some space to figure out who he is these days."

"He's Mutou Yuugi," Seto said, because it would be like Seto trying to figure out who he was. They weren't a puzzle, they just were. And if they changed over time, that was just part of it. Seto had had his mind broken by the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle, but even if he'd emerged from that a little different, he'd never changed who he was at his core. And neither had Mutou. "He's a master gamer who can be naively optimistic. He puts too much faith in people around him rather than having confidence in himself as he should." That was one of the things that annoyed Seto. Mutou seemed to attribute his wins to 'friendship' and cooperation and trust. After knowing Mutou so long, Seto couldn't say he discounted the value of teamwork entirely—it had its time and place; but in most cases that Seto had seen, Mutou or the Pharaoh had ultimately faced dangers and won with their own strength like Seto had strived—and largely succeeded—to do. "He's someone who has faced far worse than a few ghosts," Seto said, leaving his meaning vague, "and has never been afraid of facing things directly before."

Shindou went pale at the word 'ghost,' but shook it off. Seto narrowed his eyes. How much had Mutou told him? How much had Shindou believed? Seto barely believed and he'd lived through it.

"You think highly of him," Touya pointed out.

Seto frowned at him. "It's not compliments, it is statement of facts. Not just anyone can beat me in a Duel."

"You're about as arrogant as I got the impression of too," Shindou muttered.

Seto probably wasn't supposed to have heard that. He gave him a withering glare that had made board members duck for cover before. Surprisingly, Shindou didn't seem much affected by it. He shook his head and frowned up at Seto.

"You're just upset that someone else helped him the last bit of the way aren't you?"

Seto stared. Touya stared. Mokuba burst into hastily stifled laughter. Seto crossed his arms and side eyed his younger brother.

"Sorry!" Mokuba waved a hand. "Sorry, just, you were so _annoyed_ when Yuugi ran off."

"He didn't return my messages," Seto grumbled.

"He doesn't have to," Mokuba said. "He's not an employee." He patted Seto's elbow to show he didn't mean anything by his laughter. It took a bit of the sting off it. "You know, you should just be glad Yuugi's Dueling again."

"I am."

"Holy shit," Shindou blurted. "You really are upset that someone else helped motivate him."

It wasn't like that. Seto felt irritation swirl through him. It truly didn't matter if it was Seto or Mutou's friends, or this strange new friend that got the end result; either way, Seto still reaped the outcome. He had Mutou Dueling and continuing to help him with testing. He would Duel Mutou soon and have someone to pit his ability against. It probably wouldn't even be that hard to convince Mutou to help with publicity or marketing. What annoyed him was that he didn't know what had been the final tipping point. He didn't get to see Mutou reaffirm that he was a Duelist first and foremost with his own eyes.

"You know he's not really the rival you're pictu—"

That answered if Shindou knew about the Pharaoh. Seto cut him off. "I am aware." He narrowed his eyes and felt the air stir around him. His pocket with his deck felt warm, and he had the feeling that if he turned around he'd find one of his dragons curled around him in some unnecessary but not unwelcome support. Shindou's breath caught and his eyes went big. He could see it, then. Interesting. Touya could not from the frown on his face. Mokuba leaned against Seto's side and he placed a hand on his shoulder. "I am not replacing the memory of anyone. Mutou has always been Mutou." Even if he hadn't realized at first there was more than one. Mutou, the Pharaoh, each were worthy opponents in their own right. They had _both_ Dueled him, together or separate. "Don't insult me."

"Right." Shindou tore his eyes away from the dragon behind Seto and Seto let the dragon and his anger at such an assumption fade. Shindou swallowed a few times and asked, "So. Has this satisfied your curiosity?"

"...I suppose." Not enough, but it would suffice. Shindou knew things that Mutou didn't tell to random strangers. There had to be more than met the eye about the Go player, but Seto found he didn't care about trying to dig too deeply. He'd satisfied his main curiosity. He supposed there was no more point in staying.

"Hey," Shindou said before Seto could do more than angle his body away. "He was glad you're stubborn about keeping him involved. He said he needed that."

Seto's lip curled, somewhere between a sneer and a smirk as he couldn't quite decide between the two expressions. "Of course he needed it. Any idiot could tell Mutou still wanted to Duel, he was just letting sentiment get the better of him."

Shindou rolled his eyes, apparently already recovered from the fear of seeing a dragon. "He said you were a good friend."

Now Seto was sure his expression looked pained. "Why do people keep assuming that I am doing this for Mutou?" Or that they were friends in the way Mutou and his tagalongs were. Seto couldn't say they weren't friendly anymore, but for goodness sake. "I have selfish motives for wanting him to move on."

"But Nii-sama," Mokuba said, gripping Seto's hand, "you're doing it for Yuugi too."

Seto threw his hands up. Clearly everyone was seeing a better side of him than existed. Maybe they were all infected with Mutou's optimism. "His moping was annoying the hell out of me," he said walking away. Conversation over.

Or not, because Shindou called after him. "And everyone just helps someone get over grieving because they're annoying. Tell Yuugi I said hi!"

Seto waved a dismissive hand.

"It was nice meeting you," Mokuba said, taking care of the polite niceties that Seto wasn't in the mood to bother with.

"You too, though maybe not so nice meeting your brother," Shindou said. "Maybe next time you could play a game?"

Seto stepped past the woman at the desk—blatantly eavesdropping like most of the patrons, but if Seto cared about that, he'd have tried to arrange for a more private meeting place. He didn't hear what Mokuba's reply was as he stepped out the door. Probably something noncommittal but not a direct refusal. Keeping possible channels of communication open. Mokuba was going to be a force to reckon with in the company once he started his own projects in earnest. Seto was direct and blunt, and Mokuba was there to fill in the edges and smooth things over. The seemingly unremarkable one that would gain trust and good graces just by contrasting with Seto and could wrap you about his finger that way. It was convenient that people often forgot that Mokuba was a Kaiba just as much as Seto was.

Seto waited outside the Go salon, relishing the cleaner air.

A few minutes later, Mokuba rejoined him. "I still think Yuugi's going to be annoyed," Mokuba said, casual as could be.

"I didn't make threats or do anything but talk."

"You loomed. And picked."

"And Mutou would know that that is not even a fraction of what I could have done."

Mokuba sighed with fond exasperation. "So…"

His voice was too carefully innocent. Seto lifted an eyebrow.

"Was Shindou right about you being jealous?" He had an imp's smirk on his face.

Seto snorted. "Hardly. I wouldn't want to have the sort of emotional drivel that no doubt happened during Mutou's visit directed at me."

"But…?"

He sighed. Mokuba knew him too well. "But I admit that it is irritating that he felt the need to talk to someone who didn't live through it. He shared quite a bit with Shindou."

Mokuba hummed thoughtfully. "Maybe Shindou's perspective was the important thing. Maybe Shindou went through something similar."

"Similar." Seto couldn't imagine anyone else going through anything remotely like some of the things they had experienced thanks to Duel Monsters and the Millennium items.

"Just a thought." Mokuba shrugged. "So I promised to ask Yuugi for a game of Go sometime. Think he'd teach me the rules?"

"I wouldn't have thought you'd be interested."

"Call it curiosity." Mokuba smiled. "Life doesn't begin and end with Duel Monsters."

Seto didn't bother to give that a response.

Mokuba's laughter brought about more satisfaction from this trip than simply talking to Shindou would have.

Tomorrow he would ask Mutou to a Duel. Then he'd see how much Mutou had changed.

o0O0o

There was a long silence after Seto's lifepoints went down to zero. On the other end of Duel Academy's main Duel arena, Mutou shifted from foot to foot, clearly waiting for some sort of reaction.

"…Kaiba-kun?" Mutou said. He took a step forward like he would cross the arena.

Seto took in a long breath and let it out. He was smiling, probably a terrifying smile since most of his smiles weren't very nice ones, but even though he had lost, he felt alive. It was the best challenge he had had—the best Duel he'd had—in months. Mutou looked worried. Of course he looked worried. His track record of Dueling Seto where Seto lost must make the smile that much more alarming. It struck him as funny, so he laughed.

Now Mutou looked nervous. Good. He got too comfortable around Seto sometimes, and that made Seto feel uncomfortable in ways he didn't want to examine. It was a good laugh though, not anything Mutou had to be nervous about. He trailed off, feeling something, some worry inside him relax. Mutou was still Mutou.

"Thank you for the Duel," he said.

Mutou hesitated a moment longer before he nodded and walked over. "It was a good Duel." They stood side by side at the arena's edge. It had worked how Seto wanted it to, for the most part, and there were still bugs to work out, but everything was coming together. It was quiet between them for a few minutes before Mutou looked around. "I'd like to see it when it's complete."

"I'll have to test it before I open it for students." Seto crossed his arms, thoughts far away for a moment. There was at least another year's worth of work to be done, but then…? "The whole island will need testing. I could have people come for a week… Maybe some people from the Battle City finals…"

"Really?" Mutou blinked. "You'd let that many people test it?"

"It's going to be used by a lot more people," Seto reasoned. "I wouldn't want to do a whole tournament." That would be too much like Pegasus for Seto's liking, leaving a bunch of Duelists to battle on an island. But something informal… "It would be good publicity and networking."

"And catching up with acquaintances wouldn't factor in at all," Mutou joked.

Seto rolled his eyes. "Or I could just drag you to various points to Duel, but that would take a lot longer than having a group of top Duelists using the island's systems."

"It sounds fun," Mutou said. Seto let Mutou's calm tone dismiss his irritation.

"Fun." It actually did sound fun, but Seto had never really been one to do something for pleasure's sake when he could make something pleasurable work for him. "Have you thought any more about working with marketing?"

"I'm not going to be on your payroll as some kind of poster boy," Mutou said, rehashing the ongoing disagreement. "But," he said, frowning at Seto in a way that said Seto had better not try to twist whatever he was going to say next into making the former happen anyway, "I will participate in any tournament you set up."

"Deal." He knew a good deal when he saw one. And Mutou was sure to come around eventually.

"I'm serious, Kaiba-kun."

"I know." Seto was still smiling.

"Kaiba," Mutou said, blunt and exasperated.

He was growing to know Seto too well.

Seto was surprisingly all right with that.

* * *

 _AN:_

 _Extra bit that didn't really fit with the story...or the characterization, but happened to write down while planning:_

 _"You're just like Jonouchi," Seto muttered. "No wonder Mutou considers you a friend. At least Jonouchi's hair is natural."_

 _"At least I don't have a mullet!" Shindou screeched. He pointed a finger at Seto's hair. "The Nineties are calling and they want their hair back!"_

 _"The Two Thousands are calling and say that your hair is a mistake," Seto shot back._


End file.
